What a surprise!

Sometimes it's best not to read reviews or know anything about a show before watching it. I happened upon this gem completely by accident and I enjoyed it fully. It's a very calming story. Strangely, while watching it, it made me feel like I was sitting on the porch on a beautiful spring day, watching the world around me. Low angst.

Tabe Mikako as Sawako. Now, one of the problems that I tend to have with Japanese shows is that the FL always has her head down, speaks haltingly, and apologizes for absolutely everything. At the outset, I thought this was going to be the same, but here, it worked perfectly. She didn't fit in and was all alone, until she was able to make some friends. I liked the way she portrayed her shyness, her loneliness, but finally learned to speak up, at least when her friends were being trash talked about.

Miura Haruma - (It was sad watching him from a RL standpoint. All I could think of was that beautiful smile hid his true self. The world lost a sweet soul. My mind goes off on a tirade of the importance of seeking help, of speaking up, of not suffering alone.) He did a wonderful part with this role. Tall, gangly, friendly, popular, handsome. The last person you'd expect to come to the aid of Sawako. I adored the voice over when we first hear about his feelings for her.

A plus for me was how this movie didn't just focus on romance, but on the importance of friendship. How opening yourself up to an unlikely alliance can bring such happiness and completion. I enjoyed watching Sawako's change over time (her trying to kick a soccer ball was so funny!). She realized the importance of those friendships and was willing to totally come out of her shell to defend those friendships.

I felt that this movie flowed very smoothly, and I was along for the ride. There were no jarring moments to make the ride bumpy (except for the guy playing the homeroom teacher - WAY overacted!), and we are treated to Mikako's beautiful smile at the end of the movie. I found myself smiling as well. I'm really glad I took this journey.

Then, to find out that there's another version coming out on Netflix March 30th - I hope they don't screw it up!

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For me, this drama was irritating

Positives first:
1) Tan Song Yun as Ning Meng was excellent. Her growth from secretary to investment person was interesting to watch. This was a character that depended upon herself to succeed. She wasn't whiny, stupid or over-the-top in any way.
2) The character of Ning Meng (when she wasn't making bad relationship decisions). She was not the typical damsel in distress character.
3) The clothing that Ning Meng wore. Mature, classy.
4) The friendship that ultimately is developed between the ML and FL.

Unfortunately, the list is short for the positives. The negatives far outweighed them.
1) The character of Lu Ji Ming. I think that Ling Geng Xin did a good job portraying him, but this man was abusive, plain and simple. They made a point of saying, multiple times, that she had worked for him for three years, so she'd been putting up with this for quite a while. He was mean, and the name calling was terrible. He called her stupid, saying she had no talent, and could not be successful at anything other than being his secretary. It's bad enough when it's just the two of them, but when he bad-mouths her to her new boss, I thought he'd progressed to a new level of low. Then he basically stalks her and tries to convince her to come back and work for him!
2) The excessive amount of push and pull in their relationship. It was just one drama after the other designed to keep them apart. An editor would not have been remiss here. I mean, it seemed like filler just to complete the "required" number of episodes. Each time there would be a glimmer of hope, I would look at what episode I was on and think, "Okay, what bad thing is going to happen next, they've got a bunch more episodes to fill." This would have been so much more enjoyable with half the episodes.
3) To call this a slow burn romance is not correct. They finally got together in LITERALLY the last five minutes of the last episode. There was no burn, no sizzle, no spark, no flicker. Personally, I think to call this drama a romance at all is misleading.
4) I appreciated their chemistry once they became friends. I liked that the FL was the one to come to the aid of the ML and to stand by him. However, since I watched this show looking for romance, I was sorry to not see any romantic chemistry between them.
5) The handling of the physical and/or verbal abuse. There is never an excuse. I really didn't like the turn the writers took in trying to explain away the ML's verbal abuse "I was raised that way", etc. Just once, I'd like to see a character realize how wrong he was and sincerely apologize.

For anyone that has been patient enough to read this review, I'd say, decide for yourself whether to give this drama a try. Typically, I don't love C-dramas because of the length, dubbing, characters being apart more than they are together, ridiculous costuming, etc. I have seen a couple of C-dramas that I really loved, but most, not so much. So, if C-dramas are what you gravitate to, you might like this one.

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Too slapstick for me

I have watched a few Thai dramas and have found the acting to be bad. I found it hard to take this show seriously because of that. I know it was supposed to be funny, so there is that in its favor, but everything was just too over-the-top. The sound effects became irritating very quickly. The woman playing Modem (what's with the names?!?!), had some very good reactions, but as I watched this, I found myself re-writing the lines in my head, envisioning better ways for the scenes to go. I don't claim to be a screen writer in any way, shape or form, but that just demonstrated how lacking I found the writing.

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Watch it for Steven Zhang!

Steven Zhang when he's in another's body is worth the price of admission! He embodies all the confusion, as well as the characteristics and mannerisms of trying to be a female. That aspect of the show was a treat to watch.

I also enjoyed that there was no over-the-top villain. That was a nice change of pace. She had great parents and a lovely BFF. However, the story lines for the characters other than the leads were sorely lacking.

Don't binge this show, take it slowly. I think that by binging I was able to see a lot of the long, blank periods of really nothing happening. I fast-forwarded through a lot of it just to get to the body swapping parts (which happened multiple times).

The confession was sweet but happens very late in the show. The main couple was cute together. Some good kisses.

However, the break-up, separation of a year and reason for coming back together all fell very short for me. I am so tired of the time jump that seems to be in every Asian drama. It seemed to me that they couldn't think of any good reason for them to break up, so they created this whole, totally implausible story line (I know it's a fantasy but come on! It was way too far-fetched!). Add to that, the strange last 15-minute storyline at the very end to satisfy the censors (I don't get why, really) was a complete miss and felt like it was just tacked onto the story. (For anyone old enough to remember the shower scene with Bobby Ewing in the American TV show Dallas and how angry everyone was to find out "it was just a dream", you'll understand my frustration at this ending.)

However, I will reiterate again, it's worth watching for Steve Zhang.

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Good beginning and good end

I enjoyed this show, I just wish it didn't feel like it dragged so much in the middle. I also kept wondering why they weren't trying to figure out how to get her back to normal.

I'll be honest, the big draw for this show was Taishi Nakagawa. As expected, I thought he was really good in this. I really felt for him, closing off his emotions to protect himself, and really trying to live a life that he wouldn't have chosen for himself. I really appreciate that he tends to keep his acting understated, when a lot of Japanese actors can tend to overact. For anyone that has not seen him in Today's Kira Kun, you should really check it out.

I got extremely irritated with her constantly calling his name, but other than that the female lead's character was good, trying to make the best of a bad situation. The interactions between the two were enjoyable, especially once he figured out that he liked her.

I loved the ending. I always appreciate when we get some time at the end of the show to wrap things up adequately, and not rush things.

Cute, sweet, low angst.

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An extraordinary show

Let me start by saying that Romantic Comedy is my "go to" genre (this is not one!), and I don't give out a rating of 10 willy-nilly (must hold my attention throughout, without needing to fast forward, must be well-written, must have a high rewatch value, must have at least some likeable characters, can't be too melodramatic, and it has to have a good ending (wasn't too sure about the likeability of the characters, but they soon changed my mind. This was definitely more on the melodrama scale than I normally like, but MAN!)

This drama is written so well. I really appreciated the originality of it. Okay, we've seen the grim reaper thing done before, but this is in a category of its own. I loved how every episode introduced new characters for the reapers to get involved with, and no storyline was extended too far out, enabling us to move on without getting bored. There is a LOT of serious material that gets covered - suicide, bullying, the cost of fame, tragedies of many forms, and each episode gives attention to these issues, and we definitely see the seedy underbelly of human behavior. There were some episodes that were more difficult to watch than others, but they were so masterfully written, and you really get a feel into the complexities of people's feelings and what leads them to contemplate ending their own lives. The three main Reapers, when we first see them, are hard, unyielding, by-the-book and, honestly, not very nice people. When a half human, half reaper enters the picture, he really shuffles things up. We get the privilege of seeing him change them, as well as the other way around.

ACTING: Kim Hee Sun, Yun Ji On and Lee Soo Hyuk were excellent as Reapers. I really felt like their coldness was from centuries of doing this job, and it took Rowoon as Choi Joon Woong to come in and shake things up a bit. I especially enjoyed watching Yun Ji On - I've not seen him in anything before. He seemed so flat in his acting at first, but that was just his character, and when it addressed his storyline, my heart broke for him. Rowoon's character was a bit of a mess, floating through life, unable to get a job, etc. Lee Soo Hyuk tends to always play these mean, hard, unyielding characters and he's the same here, but once we get his back story it all makes sense. It's enjoyable to watch him "become human" and really start to care about others. I love Kim Hae Sook in anything I see her in, and she was excellent as the Jade Emperor. She had to be more strict with others in this role and that was a change from the way I've normally seen her. I also have to give a shout out to Kim Young Ok as Lee Jeong Mun (episode 13, I believe) - she is a seasoned actress that I always enjoy. I would love for her to be my grandmother, with her sweet face and voice.


CINEMATOGRAPHY/MAKE UP/ COSTUMING/SPECIAL EFFECTS: On point! It had a very noir feel about it, lots of blues and blacks. The make-up was very good, especially as it related to wounds, etc. Costuming was good - they put the Jade Emperor in some gowns that would have been ridiculous anywhere else. The special effects were used well, and not overdone just for the sake of having special effects.

MUSIC: For me, the music faded into the background, which I appreciate. I do remember one piece that was a cello piece and it seemed very dramatic and I thought it was perfect for where they put it.

EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT: I binge watched this in two days. I cried in a few of the episodes (and I'm talking ugly cry!). I didn't want to do anything other than watch this, but when it was over, I must admit to feeling sad. I seriously cannot recommend this show highly enough, and anything I say can't do it justice.

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Full of heart!

I ALMOST turned this off in the second episode, because I found the FL so unlikeable. I'm so glad I didn't!!! This was a lovely show that totally gave me all the feels. I thought the storyline was very original and the writers did such a good job of keeping some mystery throughout and changing how we feel about the characters. Some you start out hating and then grow to love. There was quite a bit of physical humor (noodle legs after a kiss is all I'll say) that didn't take away from the story. The parents in this show were different than the majority of Korean dramas. Plus, you can never go wrong with family and friend dynamics.

ACTING/CAST: I thought the whole cast was excellent, but I'll speak to just a couple. Uee as Do Do Hee - Hated her character at the beginning, she seemed so angry and miserable all the time, but was we got to know here better, it all made sense. You could really feel her loneliness, and it was a joy to see that she wasn't as put together as originally thought, especially when we were treated to flashbacks. Choi Woo Shik as Kang Ho Goo - this is a young man that has the most beautiful baby face, and he knows how to use it. He was so expressive. His love was almost palpable, love toward everyone in his sphere, but especially for Do Hee and the baby (cutest baby ever, by the way!). In Seul Ong as Byeon Kung Cheol - a character that you love to hate, but you may change your mind as time goes along. Powerful and successful, yet so insecure, this character had a lot of hidden depth and provided a lot of comic relief as well. Lee Seo Kyung as Kang Ho Gyung - Ho Goo's twin sister - I don't like aggressive females, and she bothered me quite a bit at the beginning, but she redeemed herself as well. The actress played her with so much heart.

This show tackles some serious issues, and does it without becoming melodramatic. The script addressed beauty standards, pregnancy stigma, physical and sexual abuse, sexuality, and the double standards that are involved in each thing. There were times that not a lot was going on, but watching the characters develop and the overall sweetness (in a good way) was so enjoyable, I didn't need to fast forward.

The music was innocuous and fit in well, as evidenced by the fact that I can't really remember the music.

I probably won't watch this again, only because my list of shows to watch is so long, I probably won't get through it in my lifetime.

After watching a few mediocre shows, I was so happy to see something that had me so engaged in the story and invested in the characters.

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Not believable gender bender

I felt that this show was entirely too long, with too many characters, with too much going on, and I thought it was very draggy.

The actors were fine, though I felt that Park Yoo Chun was so much better in Rooftop Prince (I liked that show a lot more too). Park Min Young is so gorgeous, there is NO WAY that anyone in their right mind would think she was a man. Her attempts to change her voice when she was pretending to be a man were not very successful. Plus, the fact that she uses her hands so much and her mannerisms are always so feminine (every show she's in spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on her hands, for some reason. She has beautiful hands, I'll give you that.).

The chemistry between them was okay, nothing outstanding in my estimation.

The scenes of them bickering at the end made no sense to me, because that wasn't the type of relationship they had throughout most of the show.

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This Rom-Com had me smiling through the whole thing!

***I just had to add something to my original review. I just re-watched this show, because I had just finished watching a couple of no-so-great shows and I needed something I knew I would enjoy. Upon re-watch, I think I enjoyed it even more, and this is why. The development of relationships was very evident, of both couples. I loved seeing even the most seemingly insignificant conversations, you could really understand why they felt the way they did about each other. So many shows, you never quite understand why the people like each other. It was just as much fun the second time around.

What a fun show!

Let's be honest, there's nothing too terribly original about it, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, if the things that they are doing are what you enjoy. And enjoy I did. It's full of the typical rom-com cliches, but it's put together in a very endearing way. The identity confusion didn't go on too terribly long, the main leads were strong characters that didn't let their families walk all over them, and I can ALMOST forgive the obligatory time jump. There is a lot of heart, a lot of humor, and a lot of fun to be found in this show. I also appreciated the fact that there weren't misunderstandings just to push the show along and keep the couple apart. We get to see an actual development of a relationship here, which I really enjoyed.

ACTING: Ahn Hyo Seop as Tang Moo - I had a bit of trouble with him toward the beginning, because it seemed he was trying to channel the lead from What's Wrong with Secretary Kim, but then a couple of episodes in he seemed to hit his stride. I ADORED him as Yoo Chan in Thirty but Seventeen, but whereas there he reminded me of a gangly puppy that hadn't grown into his body, here you can see that he has definitely grown into himself and is full of that cool grace of a romantic male lead. I thought everyone in the show did a very good job.

CHEMISTRY: Wonderful chemistry between both the lead couple and the second lead couple. No fish kisses, which is a nice change. Both couples had healthy relationships and there was time spent in honest, everyday conversations. I loved the scene of the lead couple when she went back to talk to him at the hospital when it was raining. there was a good balance between sadness, support and love as they discussed survivor's guilt.

The bromance was okay but tempered by the fact that they were employer/employee.
Sismance - amazing! While watching these two women from such completely different backgrounds interact, they were always supportive of each other. I love to see healthy friendships in the shows that I watch.
The ending was okay, a little more rushed than I like, but definitely better than most.

I have so many shows on my list to watch, I'm not normally one to re-watch anything, but I may revisit this one again soon, because it's an easy watch and it left me smiling.

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Cha Eun Woo does NOT have a lead role!

Be honest, are you considering this show because Cha Eun Woo is listed as having a main role? Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm sure they did that to get people to watch. I love every scene that he is in, but he suddenly disappears in about episode 8 with absolutely no explanation. It was also good to see the whole group Astro - though it was only for about two minutes.

The other thing that irritated me no end, the FL kept wondering, throughout the whole show, who the author of the Revenge Note was, and the author was never identified.

I really liked Kim Hwan Hee as the female lead's BFF. She was so cute, supportive, and smart.

I understand that bullying needs to be involved in order for there to be a need for a Revenge Note, but I felt the bullying was way over the top. Each time there was an opportunity for a Revenge Note, the scenario was pretty much like the previous one. You might not be bothered by this if you like shows like Mean Girls, but that's not my cup of tea. Add to that the fact that the FL was extremely weak. I just wanted to tell her to stop being such a doormat.

I did not enjoy the overabundance of bathroom humor. It was unnecessary and completely uncalled for.

The romance was so tame it was actually boring.

I know I'm probably going to regret this, but I'm going to watch the sequel, in hopes that it is better.

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Typical rom-com

I watched this a couple of years ago and decided to give it another go so I could review it. Loved the cast, loved the house, and there were numerous moments of cuteness. However, the second female lead going back and forth between the two men, the main lead watching out for her, I had a hard time knowing if he liked her or not. I wish they had written the ML with stronger feelings. Him constantly running to help the second female, really made it hard solidify the relationship between the leads.

The development of the relationship between the men was interesting to watch. They went from hating one another to having each other's backs, and they weren't even aware of it. There is a scene of the three men at the hospital sitting together that is really cute.

The second to last episode was absolutely the best, but as seems to be normal, for Korean dramas, the ending was rushed/minimal.

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Hard to watch

This was a difficult show for me to watch, because the bullying is so pervasive and, to my mind, extreme. It was felt especially strongly since it was a short show.

What I liked: I liked the friendships that developed, the feeling of standing up for and beside your friends in support. I loved this. The acting was good, and I didn't feel that anyone stood out as being out of place. At times the bullies seemed a little like caricatures of bad guys, but again, I think that was because of the short length of the show. Clever use of repeating a scene from the beginning of the show at the end when they meet up again. I loved the montage at the end with her voice over speaking about friendship.

What I didn't care for: Strong bullying. The FL telling the guy she liked him when she hadn't even really talked to him. She seemed too much like a stalker to me. And him liking her was sudden, out of the blue, and unnatural. Time skip, ugh. Their meet up - too short and abrupt.

If you aren't bothered by bullying, I'd say give this show a try, if for no other reason that seeing friendships develop

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Marvelous acting

Junho and Won Jin Ah are both marvelous in this. I loved their storyline and their connection to each other from the past. The secondary story lines? Not so much. HATED her mother - she was a mess and seemed to be uncaring that she had a living daughter. It started to go south for me at about episode 13, when it appeared that I was not going to be happy about the ending. The writers turned it around, but it was rushed. The connection between Junho and Won Jin Ah was amazing, The looks they would give each other, the little smiles, the hand holding. She has a somewhat sexy deep voice, which I found fascinating as well.

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Wow, bring on the heat!

What I loved:
1) After watching show after show of open-eyed, deer-in-the-headlights, arms-hanging-limply-at their sides kisses, this was a welcome change! The kisses were wonderful, realistic and full of steaminess. The only reason I rated this as high as I did was because of the chemistry factor.
Not so much:
1) Story - there wasn't one. They went from strangers to living together with no getting to know one another. If the storyline was just about sex, that would be okay, but we were supposed to believe that they were in love with each other why? The secondary characters were there to put some tension in the storyline I think, but that didn't work either.
2) Characters - male lead: he was the typical male character, nothing special about him. Female lead: I felt that she was not very bright. Her behavior was strange and she was overly friendly to everyone. She had no family or friends? I was, however, glad they portrayer her liking physical intimacy as well, and it didn't all just fall on the man. The co-workers: the men were creepy and the females were silly.
3) Ending - as Asian dramas almost always do, the ending was very rushed.
So, if you just need to see some good physical expressions of affection, this show is short enough that you don't have to make a very large time investment.

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